


Toxic Love

by CrimsonCarnations, EverettV



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Student/Teacher, Alternate Universe - Teachers, Blood, Blood Drinking, Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Buried Alive, Child Abuse, Chloroform, Diary/Journal, Implied Bullying, Implied Murder, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Kidnapping, M/M, Murder, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Possessive Behavior, Tags May Change, Teacher-Student Relationship, Torture, Warnings May Change, Yandere
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-02-27
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2018-09-27 05:52:07
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 13,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9979253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrimsonCarnations/pseuds/CrimsonCarnations, https://archiveofourown.org/users/EverettV/pseuds/EverettV
Summary: Antonio could’ve squealed in delight when Lovino gave him the doe-eyed, shocked look. He bites the inside of his cheek to hold it in, though, because Lovino might confide in him, and that would make him quite happy. He looks down a bit then back up at him. “I saw the tears on your face, and I was worried that something happened to you. If someone is hurting you, you can confide in me and I’ll do my best to help out. I’ll talk to the principal and the person, or people, will be suspended for a while.”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is going to be set up differently than the other stories we have written together. In this one, Antonio chapters will be by me, EverettV, and the Lovino chapters will be by AsexualShadowPrince. There may eventually be major character death and graphic depictions of violence.

_‘Dear diary,_

_Lovino is just so cute. I’m so glad that I got a class that he’s in. I didn’t really know him before he started college and happened to be in my class, I only saw him a few times, but now I get to see him almost everyday. He’s terrible at Spanish, and that makes him so much cuter. His little accent as he trips over the words and the frustrated look on his face is so cute. He crinkles his nose and sticks out his tongue slightly when he’s trying to translate something, like he is now on his test._

_I’m angry though, because somebody made him cry. I don’t know what happened, but he was still crying silently when he walked into class, and that is unacceptable. No one is allowed to make my little Lovino cry. I’m gonna hold him back after class and ask him about it. It might be weird for a teacher to step in like that and ask about personal things but I can’t say that I care that much, I’ve never cared about what people think about me. Only Lovi. People are so mean to Lovi, and that’s why they have to disappear. He wouldn’t understand if he knew that it’s my fault his parents are gone._

_He’d be angry._

_But after his mom screamed at him and slapped him and let him bruised she had to go. I don’t know why she did that but she had to go. That was only a month ago. Could it be that’s the reason he cried? Did I hurt my Lovi? I don’t know. I don’t know. I DON’T KNOW! I’ll have to be more careful about picking people off. Or maybe he’s crying because of another teacher giving him an F or a classmate being mean._

_He’s been away from school for a while, and while most teachers are understanding of what happened, some of them are being bad. They’ll have to disappear as well. That might be a bit harder, since I’ll be a suspect, but it’ll be worth it for my little Lovi. Plus Franny and Gil were always good at helping me with that._

_It’s way too quiet in this class. I hate having to administer tests, it’s always so bad. So hard. So quiet. And I have nothing to do but record my feelings in this journal… Maybe I should stop. It could cause me many problems if this were to ever be found. It’s been about half an hour since the test started. I tried to make it really simple, for Lovino’s sake, but no one has gotten up to turn one in yet, so I can’t even start grading them._

_Oh well… Until later…_

_Antonio’_

Antonio sets down his pen and closes his eyes before reopening them when he hears some shuffling. A student, not Lovino, Antonio notices with irritation, and takes their test from them with a slightly forced smile before starting to grade. Despite this, he notices, the person is okay at Spanish. They use the words correctly, that’s all he cares about at the moment. He completely ignores the misplaced accents when grading, but makes sure to mark them so the student knows in the future, even writing a note at the top to let them know he will not be so lenient in the future. 

The class goes by slowly, with Antonio grading tests as he gets them. Eventually it’s Antonio, Lovino, and one other student left in the room. Antonio had been letting students leave when they passed in the test. He slowly stands up and walks over to the other two, asking if they’re doing okay with the test. He answers the other student in slightly clipped sentences, but when he gets to Lovino he smiles brightly and lingers beside him, crouching next to his desk and looking him in the eyes when he asks how he’s doing with it. 

Lovino had been a bit rude to him. He doesn’t care, just nods and explains anything that Lovino had been struggling with, then steps back with another sweet smile, heading to the front of the classroom once more. The other student finally leaves, and Antonio is left alone with his Lovino. An almost sick smile comes to his lips when he knows that Lovino isn’t looking. He doesn’t want to scare Lovino with that smile. That smile is only made to scare the people who hurt him. And right now, all Antonio can imagine is beating the life out of the person that hurt his love, no matter who it is. 

Antonio blinks when he hears papers shuffling and forces the smile off of his face. He looks at Lovino and gives a sweet smile, taking his papers once he brings them over. “Actually, Lovino- er… Mr. Vargas, I need you to stay just a bit longer.” He never really uses the students’ last names, but he needs to be a teacher in this moment. No matter how much he doesn’t want to be. “I need to speak with you… No don’t look so panicked, it’s not about your grades. You’re doing great… I just wanted to know, why were you crying when you walked in?” He asks. 

Antonio could’ve squealed in delight when Lovino gave him the doe-eyed, shocked look. He bites the inside of his cheek to hold it in, though, because Lovino might confide in him, and that would make him quite happy. He looks down a bit then back up at him. “I saw the tears on your face, and I was worried that something happened to you. If someone is hurting you, you can confide in me and I’ll do my best to help out. I’ll talk to the principal and the person, or people, will be suspended for a while.” 

Lovino nods a bit then looks down. “It’s nothing, really, it’s just my parents died. And a few of the teachers are piling stuff on top of the stuff I missed and they don’t care that I’m already drowning in the work they gave me while I was gone because of that.” He whispers. He tells Antonio which teachers so that he can talk to the principal, and maybe get something arranged to help out Lovino. Antonio thinks for a second after hearing about those things then smiles brightly. 

“How about I help you out? I mean, I won’t be able to give you any of the answers, but maybe I can help tutor you and catch you up? And I’m great at time management, because I’m a teacher, so I can help you get everything turned in on time and what to work on first! And don’t worry about turning in stuff from me right away, you know that I just require everything be done by the end of the semester. So, if you really wanted to, you could procrastinate working on that. But it’s not a good idea. That’ll probably stress you out in the end. I can definitely help with that, though, and I can help you correct things while you’re doing the work!” Antonio smiles gently, hoping to convince him. 

That night, Antonio’s heart was swelling with joy. Lovino had agreed. Lovino had said yes to getting help from him. That must mean that Lovino feels something too, right? Antonio is sure that it does.


	2. Chapter 2

“Fratello!” Lovino looked up when he heard his younger brother’s voice and felt a slight shock when he barreled in and hugged him. He grumbled but hugged his brother in return and then moved him off. “Fratello! Grandpa got here this morning while you were at school. I’m really glad I didn’t go today. But nonno wasn’t happy when I was here. I told him why you said I could stay. He was still upset though” He pouted. 

Lovino grumbled and shrugged. “Oh well. I was in charge I said you could stay home. Doesn’t matter what he thinks.” He huffed. “I have to go up and do homework. Is he gonna make dinner or do I have to?” he asked. “If I do go pick out what you want and I’ll be down in a bit to make it.”

“Just because he asks you something doesn’t mean you have to let him stay home from school Lovino. I understand that both of you are struggling. But he is a senior in high school. He can handle himself at school. He doesn’t even have full days. He leaves at lunch” Romulus crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m struggling too. But I still have to come and take care of you boys.” He muttered. 

“Oh because you have been around to take care of us up until this point. You weren’t here when mum got sick. You weren’t there when they were fighting. And you didn’t even bother showing up for their funeral when they were fucking murdered. You’re a great fucking grandfather. Thanks for that shit. I’m going to do my fucking homework” He snapped, ignoring any protests and going into his room. He slammed the door shut and locked it before sitting down at his desk. He started to do his homework, struggling because he had so much and wasn’t focused on it. 

Feliciano looked at Romulus then at the stairs. He pouted. “I’m sorry nonno. He’s really struggling. He was so upset when it happened and he’s having a hard time in school. You really haven’t been here, though. You talk to me all the time. But you never really seem to care about Lovi” he sighed and looked down. “I’m sorry. I’ll go pick something out for dinner now” he whispered. He went into the kitchen and looked through the fridge. He was more than uncomfortable with the whole situation. 

Romulus was pissed enough with Lovino’s little rant at him but when Feliciano confirmed that they felt that way he huffed and went outside for a moment. They were both very heartbroken right now and he knew that but that was no excuse for this behaviour. Feli skipping school, Lovi condoning that, and yelling at him. That was not validated through anything. He went back inside and into the kitchen. When he got back in there Lovino was pulling out what Feliciano had chosen to make dinner. Good, two birds with one stone. 

“Both of you sit down for a moment and listen to me. Feliciano, you are 17 years old. You do not get to skip school anymore and if I find out that you skipped school I will shut off your phone for a week. Is that clear?” he growled out. “If you do it a second time I’ll pull you out and homeschool you and then send you to college myself” he stated before turning to Lovino. “And if you are the one telling him to skip again then you’ll be in trouble too. Just because you are an adult doesn’t mean you get to ruin your brother’s life when you both get a little depressed” He added. “And if you ever talk to me like that again don’t be surprised if you get a smack on the mouth. If I s-”

“Oh let me see. If you spoke to your parents that way you’d get beat. Or is it kicked out this time? Shut up. I’ve heard it a million times. Feliciano and I have been perfectly capable for a month without you. I don’t get why you think you can come into our lives and boss us around. I’m 21 years old, I pay the fucking bills, I take care of Feliciano. So you don’t get to show up one day and boss me around!” Lovino screamed. “Now if you’ll excuse me I’m going to finish making dinner. We’ll talk about this later” he growled. 

Romulus’ eyes were wide but he only growled again. “After dinner, you will meet me in my room.” He said lowly. He looked at Feliciano and noticed that the younger Italian was crying and staring at him. 

“For your information, I have at minimum of 97% in all of my classes and I have extra credit in my art and theatre class,” he stated. “You wouldn’t know that though would you? Lovino has taken better care of me than you have, that’s for sure” He asked before getting up and going upstairs into his room. He slammed his door shut and slid down it, tears pouring off his cheeks. 

Romulus sighed and went back outside. He ran his fingers through his hair. After dinner, he met Lovino in his room and it turned into a full out screaming match. So loud that Feliciano had heard and he came into the room, screaming at Romulus as well. It got so bad that Romulus did lift up his hand and smack it across Lovino’s face. With that Lovino looked up at him and growled. “This is my fucking house.” He hissed, holding his cheek, tears pooling down his cheeks. “And I don’t want you here until you can accept that” 

Lovino didn’t remember most of the rest of the night. He and Feliciano slept in his room together. He put his arms around Feliciano and let him cry for a while, wanting to make sure that he had the comfort he needed. He and Romulus never fought like this. Lovino and Romulus had fought countless times and it wasn’t shocking to him at this point. But Feliciano had never fought with him like that before. Not that big. Romulus had left to who knows where and Lovino didn’t finish his homework. But at this moment he really couldn’t care less about all the work those teachers were trying to force on him. 

Feliciano got up in time for school in the morning and rode the bus there. He found Arthur and told him he wanted to come with him when he ditched today. Lovino made his way to Antonio’s class and sighed, tears pouring off of his cheeks. He went into the bathroom first and wiped his eyes, though his face was still incredibly red. He sat down in the back of the classroom and held his books close. He was more than upset with how last night went and he really didn’t want to be here. He knew Feliciano was going to ditch again. He didn’t really care. He trusted Feliciano to take care of himself. He was almost an adult. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. 

Lovino knew how incredibly early for class he was. But until students got there it was empty and he appreciated being alone. He had been trying not to let himself start crying again but it happened without him realizing and when he did he quickly opened a book and kept it close to his face to attempt to mask how much he was crying.


	3. Chapter 3

_‘Dear diary,_

_Dios mio I am tired today. I got rid of those teachers that were bothering my Lovi, and it’s been more stressful than I expected. I had a few early morning classes because I ended up having to sub until a real sub could come. They were cancelled after about an hour, but I still had to be working when I could be relaxing and waiting for any students that came to ask me questions._

_I can’t even believe how good it feels to tear their flesh apart. I can’t begin to describe the feeling either. I always love how nice it is to feel the slick blood flowing over my fingers, to tear their organs from their body. Franny and Gil never understood, they don’t like to end people like I do. They don’t have the pent up anger necessary to beat another person into unconsciousness, they don’t have a reason either. I’m sure if it was the love of their lives that needed them to do it, they’d get it. They’d be thrilled to help. I do hope that since they’re gone, the workload will lessen, so Lovino can keep up a bit more._

_I’m so bored in my office, I almost went to sleep a few times. I’ve had at least six cups of coffee. It took such a long time to bury the bodies, it was so frustrating. Gil and Franny said it’s because I made too big of a mess, that I should really start doing it on tarps, even if we are out in the desert. They said that people still go out there and they will see. They said we haven’t been careful enough, that we’re going to get caught if we’re not more careful in the future. I’ll keep that in mind._

_My mind has since been consumed with Lovino. I haven’t gotten an email from him about the tutoring, but I can only assume that we will be starting today. I hope he had a good night, I’m sure that Feliciano is helping him out. I almost feel bad that I killed their parents, I know I probably made their lives much harder. I hope that Lovino knows he can talk to me about anything, no matter what it is. I have almost offered to let Lovino live with me a few times, with the promise that I’d pay rent and they’d only have to pay for food, but I’m worried Lovino would be creeped out by me. If it keeps up, though, I’m going to let them live with me. Lovino shouldn’t be so worried and stressed out about raising his baby brother and paying the bills and graduating._

_I’d be more than willing for them to live with me and to just relax. Both of them need something to help them relax. There’s that theme park nearby, I could take them there, maybe it would help out a little bit… I’ll ask Lovino about it when I see him later. I’m glad he’s in my Spanish classes, though it’s strange that he has the schedule he has for it. I guess he is really dedicated. I only have one class that meets every weekday. It’s for the really dedicated students, or for the people who are just really bad at it. While I think Lovi isn’t particularly good at it, I think he could pass if he went in a normal class. I’m just glad I get to see him every week day. My precious sweet Lovi._

_It’s my goal to make him smile. I bet his smile would be bright like the sunrise. I bet it would outshine that of his brothers. I bet it would outshine the sunlight and the starlight combined. I bet it would be more beautiful than the crashing waves of the ocean or the most amazing piece of art in the whole world. I love my Lovi so much. He loves me too, I’m sure of it. Yesterday proved that to me. My next class starts pretty soon. I just heard the door open, I think a student came in. Maybe they don’t know that my office is past my desk. I’ll go check._

_Antonio’_

Antonio closes his journal and locks it in his desk before standing and stepping out. “Hello! Class hasn’t started yet, do you have a question?” He asks as he walks out. He notices that it’s Lovino and gets excited, dashing up toward him. He slows down when he sees Lovino crying and the little bruise on his cheek from the slap. “Lovi?” He comes over to him and gently wraps his arms around Lovino. 

“Hey? Are you okay?” He whispers, rubbing his shoulders. “You can tell me what happened, I promise I won’t tell anybody else unless you want me to.” He sits on the desk in front of Lovino and tilts his head up, looking at the handprint. “Who did this to you?” He asks in a low voice, already ready to kill whoever did it. He lets Lovino tug his head away and watches as Lovino starts to cry again. 

Lovino tosses his arms around Antonio and holds him tightly, sobbing into his chest. Antonio wraps his arms around him, listening as Lovino whimpers out the explanation of what happened. He has an insane smirk on his lips, angry at Lovino’s grandfather. The fact that Romulus is just as stressed as Lovino doesn’t occur to him. The door opens and he glances at the new student who walked in. He lets go of Lovino. 

“Come here.” He says gently. “I have some cream for your cheek in my office. Grab your stuff, I’m gonna let you stay in there today, okay? Your other classes have been cancelled because the teachers never showed up. I hope that you will be able to take some time to catch up. I have a couch in there if you want to sleep instead. When I’m in between classes and after school I’ll help you with some of your work, okay?” He gently pushes Lovino onto the couch. He dries Lovino’s cheeks then spreads the bruise cream on his cheek as gently as possible. 

Antonio can’t breath when Lovino looks up at him with those big, beautiful, sad green eyes. Lovino just nods quietly. Antonio gives him a bright smile and hands him a paper. “Here. This is what I’m teaching in class today. I’ll come in and help after this class, okay? You can work or sleep, I don’t mind. I hope you have a better day. Let me know if you need anything. There’s some iced coffee and water in the refrigerator and some snacks in the fridge and on top of it. Take whatever you want, okay?” He smiles when Lovino nods slowly. 

Antonio leans down and opens the refrigerator, grabbing a bottle of water. He smiles at Lovino one last time before stepping out into his classroom and starting to teach. He can’t think about it when he has Lovino sitting in his office all sad and needing comfort. He wants to snuggle with him and help him feel much better. Antonio passes out the worksheet then slides into his office again, closing the door behind him then smiles at Lovino. He notices that the Italian is sleeping, so he pulls a blanket over him and then sits down, working on grading. He stands up and kisses Lovino’s forehead softly, sitting down beside his head and stroking his hair softly. He leans his head back and drifts off to sleep as well.


	4. Chapter 4

Lovino had decided after only a few moments that he was going to just lay down and rest. He actually fell asleep rather quickly, considering he barely slept the night before. He noticed when Antonio came in and sat with him. The kiss was unexpected but kind of comforting. He laid with Antonio and moved a bit closer to him then woke fully a few moments later. He looked up at the Spaniard and yawned. “I’m sorry. I wanted to work. But I was super tired” he whispered. 

Antonio shook his head and ran his fingers along Lovino’s hair. “Don’t apologise. I told you-you could sleep. I can help you work on the work now if you want. Or you can rest some more. Until they have a substitute most of your other classes are going to be cancelled so you have plenty of time.” he assured. 

Lovino nodded and shifted a bit. “Okay. I’ll rest a little bit more. But I want to get caught up if I can” He shifted. “Actually...if you are ready to help now maybe I should do it now” he sighed and shifted a bit. He pulled his backpack closer and started to pull out his work. He ran his fingers through his hair and looked it over. It already looked really frustrating and like something he really didn’t want to do. He was too overwhelmed with what happened with his grandfather and all the homework he had to do. Tears built up in his eyes again and he looked away from Antonio.

Antonio put his arms around Lovino again and rubbed his back. He smiled down at him and rubbed his back, running along his spine then starting at his hair and repeating. “Don’t you worry about all that homework, Lovi. You have plenty of time now, just get some rest” he pulled Lovino off of him and had him lay down with his head in his lap. He ran his finger’s through his hair. “Just get some rest okay?” He watched Lovino until he fell asleep again, smirking softly. He was going to offer to walk Lovino home today. He would find out where his little Lovi lived. He would fix all of his problems. 

After Lovino had woken up again he did manage to work on some of the homework with Antonio’s help. He was honestly surprised how well Antonio did with the English homework. He knew that Antonio probably had to take quite a few English classes but he was really good at it. He ran his fingers through his hair and leaned on Antonio, sniffling a bit. “I don’t understand what all these grammar rules are” he whispered. “It’s so complicated. Italian is so much easier.”

Antonio ran his fingers through Lovino’s hair. “I think it’s just because Italian was your first language. I’ll help you, but you are doing really good!” he said happily and shifted a bit. He pulled Lovino’s homework closer to himself. “It’s like this,” he said, showing Lovino how it is supposed to be then explaining why it is supposed to be that way. He smiled at him and tilted his head a bit. 

Lovino nodded. “Okay. I still don’t get it. But I guess that works” he shrugged. He was more than annoyed with homework when they finished his English. He sighed and laid back on the couch while Antonio taught his last class. He looked up at the roof and started to feel tears run down his cheeks again. He wiped his eyes quickly and sniffled. 

“Lovi, I’d like to walk you home, if that is okay,” Antonio said as he came in. “I want to help you more. Maybe you can come over to my house or I can come to yours to help tutor you some time. You can bring your brother too if you need to make sure he has someone to take care of him.” 

Lovino looked up at him and nodded. “I guess that’s fine. I’d rather you come to my house I think,” he whispered. “Wouldn’t it be weird to have my teacher at my house? Or be at my teacher’s house” He tilted his head. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair again. “Are we going now then?” he asked, standing up and grabbing his backpack.

Antonio shook his head. “It’s so I can help you with all your work” he tilted his head and chuckled. “I have to close my computer up and stuff first. But then we can go.” He sat down at his desk and turned the computer off, grabbed his back, locked the drawer, then looked at Lovino. “Mkay we can go now if you are ready” he opened his office door for Lovino. 

Lovino nodded and followed him out. He walked with Antonio silently until they were outside. “My nonno get’s upset really easily. I’m sorry I had to unload all of that on you. I’ve just never seen him yell at Feli like that” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “I’m sorry. It’s really not that big of a deal. I just think I’m old enough to take care of Feli and myself. We really don’t need him” 

Antonio nodded. “I’m sure he’ll realise that. I’m sure everything will work out for you and Feli in the end, Lovi” he smiled at him and walked him up to his door. “You have such a lovely home.” He complimented while he made sure to make a mental note of the address for later. “Do you need anything else before I go?” he asked. 

Lovino shook his head. “Thank you. It was mum’s decision” he sighed. “I am going to keep it if I can” he sighed and shook his head again. “I don’t need anything else. Thank you so much for all your help” he whispered before going inside again. He shifted and sat down on the couch, running his fingers through his hair. 

Feliciano came bursting through the door with his arm around Arthur, who had recently changed his hair dye to have both light and dark green rather than just the light. Feliciano smiled brightly, stumbling towards the couch and flopping down next to his brother. He reeked of Alcohol and cigarettes. He put his arm around Lovino and smiled brighter. “Fratello! Fratello, how was school? I had fun fun at school. Wow. I mean I didn’t go to any of my classes. I hung out with Arthur all day and wow Fratello have you ever made out with a boy before? I’m fairly certain I am at least bi” he giggled and stood up again throwing his arms around Arthur. “Fratello, can I dye my hair? I’m thinking like lavender or pink. Oh! And I want to get a bunch of piercings too” 

Lovino gasped a bit. “Feliciano. You know I am usually pretty alright with your branching out but Feliciano this is ridiculous. You are drunk and you reek” He grumbled. “Go take a shower and drink some water. We’ll talk about all of this later” he sighed heavily and looked at Arthur. “Did you kiss my brother? I swear to god if you hurt him I will fucking rip your heart out of your chest. My little brother is all I have left. So if you hurt him in anyway you will suffer for it” he stated before pulling out his book and reading it with a huff. 

Feliciano pouted. “Fratello” he whined. “You’re so mean to Arthur. What if I loved him?” he pouted. “Would you tell me no too? Like grandpa would?” he pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. 

Lovino grumbled. “No, Feliciano. I wouldn’t say no. But I would tell you to be careful and I would make worse threats. For instance. If you ever hurt my brother while you are together or try anything with him I will rip your dick off and shove it down your throat” he growled.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If child abuse, fighting, or graphic violence triggers you, please take care reading this chapter

After Lovino was safely inside, Antonio stayed long enough to watch Feliciano disappear inside as well. He raises an eyebrow at the blond highschooler who is also there, but doesn’t say anything, since Lovino assumed he had gone home. He contemplates slamming Arthur against the wall and also threatening him, but he doesn’t because he knows it could mean Arthur could testify against him if it came down to it. He goes home when he realizes that Romulus won’t be making his appearance anytime soon. 

Antonio goes home and has dinner before planning the way that he’s going to end Romulus. He makes the decision to lure Romulus away from Lovino’s house. He would draw suspicion away from Lovino, because he’d have the alibi of his brother. Antonio wouldn’t be suspected because he doesn’t have any real connection to Romulus. He collects the newest materials he’s bought for cleaning up and puts them in the back of his car. He thinks he should put a secret compartment in if he’s going to make this a habit. 

He shrugs and tucks a plastic bag into the back to put Romulus’ body inside of so blood doesn’t get all over the interior of his trunk, it would be too suspicious, then calls Gilbert and Francis, asking them to come over. They sigh, then do. Both love Antonio dearly, but it starts to get frustrating when he needs them two nights in a row. When they arrive he explains that they are looking for Lovino’s grandfather, and that they need to be careful. There isn’t time to scope him out, each second is lost to Romulus possibly hurting Lovino again. 

He heads back to Lovino’s house, parking down the street and walking the rest of the way. A car that was not there previously, a rental, Antonio notices, and approaches the window. He hears screaming inside, and it just gets louder every second. Crashing sounds soon follow, and a book comes flying through the window he is ducked under. For a second, he’s thrown off. For a second, he falters and lets a small sob leave his throat as he’s drowned in flashbacks. The second is over when Francis sets a hand on his back to pull him out of it. He nods, wiping his tears and moving to where the door opens then slams shut, the drunk bastard stumbling to his car. 

Antonio moves quietly behind Romulus, pressing a rag soaked in chloroform over his nose and mouth, getting Francis’ help in moving him to the car. They prop him up in the back seat, using Gilbert to hold him up so he looks like he’s just sleeping. Antonio drops the rag in the trunk and pulls off the gloves he was wearing, setting them beside it, then gets in the car and drives off. At first, Antonio isn’t sure where they should go. He has to take deep breaths to focus himself and not remember what happened. 

Gilbert’s hand on his shoulder pulls him back to reality. He glances at Gilbert in the mirror, then meets his own watery gaze. He has to make himself calm down, if he’s this upset, then he’s going to end up being too sloppy. He nods at himself and then flicks his eyes back to the road, sniffling and trying to hold back his tears. He parks when he decides they are far enough out of town, then gets out and drags Romulus up the hill and out of sight from anyone on the road. Gilbert and Francis bring the gloves, the bag, and the weapons that Antonio had brought. 

Antonio looks at the weapons then down at Romulus. Gilbert swears that Antonio’s entire being changes whenever he is getting ready for the kill. The cheerful, beautiful, sweet man that he’s grown up with goes rigid, the air gets tense with anticipation. He knows that Antonio loves to do this, that he loves the kill, but Gilbert doesn’t. He is honestly afraid that Antonio is going to lose it one of these times, and will kill himself and Francis as well. 

Antonio quivers slightly, putting the gloves on. He gets a sick grin on his face as he picks up a knife. He caresses the blade, enjoying the glint of the moonlight on the silver. He sinks the blade into Romulus’ shoulder, tearing it down his body. He savors the feeling of blood splashing onto his face, loves it dripping down his face and chin. He smirks savagely, stabbing him over and over, splashing blood on himself. At some point, Romulus had woken and started to scream, but Antonio didn’t even hear it over the blood rushing in his ears. 

He smirks down at him, licking his lips and relishing in the coppery taste. Antonio stops when he thinks that Romulus has had enough, stepping back and looking down at the bloody mess that was a human being. He looks at Gilbert and Francis. “I think it’s time to bury him.” He says softly, smiling cheerfully. Francis looks visibly rattled, but Antonio doesn’t seem to notice. He pulls off the gloves and shoves them into his pocket before taking the shovel being handed to him and starting to dig into the soft ground. 

Romulus is still gasping softly when Antonio shoves his body in the deep hole. Antonio smirks down at him, bright green eyes standing out even in the dim lighting. “You deserve this. You’re filth. You’re the lowest of the low, hurting your grandchild. He trusts you, and you turn around and do that to him. I hate you.” He growls. He pushes some dirt on him. He makes sure all of the blood soaked dirt goes in first, then covers the rest of the grave with clean dirt. Francis and Gilbert pat down the dirt then help Antonio put the rest of the own supplies in the back of the car. The blood soaked ones are wrapped in the tarp in the trunk. 

Antonio takes off his shirt and wipes the blood from his face and hands with it before tossing it in the tarp as well. He smiles cheerfully at his friends then hugs them tightly. “Thank you so much! You are the best.” He nuzzles against Francis’ chest, smearing some left over blood on the Frenchman’s shirt. Francis stiffens then relaxes, smiling and running his fingers through Antonio’s soft curls. 

“Anytime, Tonio, you know that. It’s time to go home. I know you don’t have classes tomorrow, Antonio, but I have two study groups in the morning and I offer a late night weekend class for working people.” Francis says gently, looking down at his best friend who nods and smiles brightly. Gilbert makes a noncommittal noise in the back of throat then grins at them. 

“I’m helping Luddy with building his senior project. I’m the best big brother in the whole world!” He says and opens the back door. Antonio climbs in with Gilbert after handing Francis the keys, then snuggles into him, closing his eyes and passing out. He is always exhausted when the adrenaline from the kill wears off. Gilbert looks down at his friend then at Francis in the rearview mirror. “I’m so worried about him. We need to make sure he’s more careful, I can’t even begin to imagine what would happen if he were arrested. He would never survive being put in jail.” He whispers. Francis nods and sighs. 

“If it comes down to it, I have the least to lose. I’ll take the fall. You’re still raising Ludwig, even if he’s almost an adult he still needs you. He’s awkward, at best, and I don’t think he could ever survive a social life without you giving him advice. Does he know you used to be just like he was when you were a kid?” Francis smiles at him. “My son is living with his mother and doesn’t need me anymore. Matthew never wanted me in his life anyway.” He looks down sadly. “He still thinks I think of him as an accident, but I don’t. I love him with my whole heart.” 

Gilbert can’t say anything. Francis is the oldest in their friend group by two years, and had had Matthew when he was sixteen, but never let it stop him. He took great care of the child by himself for ten years before the mom finally came back and took him away. They were there to hold him when it happened. That was only a few months ago. Antonio shifts on Gilbert’s shoulder. 

“If it comes down to it, and you take the fall, I’ll help you pay for a good lawyer, alright?”


	6. Chapter 6

Lovino can feel the bruises. He knows that they aren't entirely visible. But he can feel them with every fibre of his being. He looked up from the bathroom sink and into the mirror. If you looked hard enough, two new bruises had shown up on his face. One on the other cheek, one on his left eye. His eye had no damage and it wasn't swollen. After all, Romulus was old. The closest thing to swollen his eyes were, was puffy from the hour and a half of crying he’s been doing. He’s still crying. 

He didn't much care about the fact that he’d been hit. No, Lovino was crying because Romulus hit Feliciano. Feliciano had once looked up to Romulus. He had once seen him like he was the most amazing man in the world. Lovino could remember when Feliciano would come into his room, blabbering on about his days with Romulus. About how much fun they would have. Lovino had always wanted that. He’d wanted that more than anything. Now, though, it didn't matter. He never wanted to see their grandfather again after tonight. 

“Fratello?” he heard his brother’s voice and turned towards the bathroom door. During the fight, Feliciano had been sober. Lovino had ensured that Feliciano never does it again. Or at least tried to. “Fratello, what’s gonna happen now?” he could hear that Feliciano was still crying through the door.

Lovino opened it and just pulled his younger brother into a tight hug. “I’m sorry. I don’t know. I’m a terrible guardian for you. He was right. I should have warned you about people like Arthur and I should take better care of you and I should have stopped him from hitting you”

Feliciano shook his head. “Don’t talk like that Fratello. This is not your fault...wait...people like Arthur? Fratello I may have been drunk when I got home but I really like him” He sighed. “I actually do want tattoos and piercings. Not right away. I want to do some research. But I really like the idea of them” he shrugged a bit before tilting his head and smiling sadly. “I promise that I’m not going to come home like that again. I’m going to talk to Arthur about it. I was just really upset and I should not have done it. And I feel like total shit. And Nonno...he’s...He’s scared. He’s stressed. I get that. But...It’s not okay what he did. We’ve been able to take care of ourselves. I don’t want him to come back” He whispered and hugged Lovino tightly in return. He felt a fresh set of tears building up in his eyes 

Lovino nodded. “I Know. I know. He won’t come back. I don’t want him to either” he whispered. He chose to ignore the part about Arthur because he was not entirely happy with it. “I want you to be careful with him please” he sighed. “He’s irresponsible. I’d like to meet his parents first. Before you do anything else with him. Okay?” 

Feliciano sighed heavily. “Okay...one problem Fratello. His dad's out of town and his mum’s kind of...well...it’s a long story” he sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, pulling out of his brother’s arms. “Arthur acts like he does for a reason Fratello” 

Lovino rolled his eyes before he realised what that meant. “Oh...I understand. Okay. just...don’t go anywhere alone with him until I can meet his father okay? If you go out go to public places. Please? Just do this for me so I can protect you?” 

Feliciano huffed. “Fine Fratello.” 

Lovino nodded. “Thank you. I love you Fratello. Why don’t we go out today? We don’t have school so we can go out. Why don’t you go take a shower and get into something nice and we’ll go to lunch and then we’ll go out to the theatre?” He offered. 

Feliciano nodded. “I’d like that yeah.” He went up into the bathroom and locked the door. He grabbed a towel from the cupboard and started to take his clothes off. He wanted to know why he was in so much pain in his lower back. He didn’t mention it to Lovi. He looked in the mirror and gasped at what he saw. He did in fact already get a tattoo. A small tattoo was on his lower back. It was a tribal marking style that wrapped around a moon and a few stars. It was very pretty, but he didn’t really plan on getting a tramp stamp...ever…

He sighed and bit his lip before climbing into the shower. He washed himself off and then climbed out and wrapped the towel around himself, making sure his lower back was covered. He rushed into his room and got dressed. 

Lovino took him out to the movies and out for lunch then they came home and went to bed. The rest of the weekend went by rather slow with Feliciano doing a bunch of research in his room on a private browser for how to take care of a tattoo. He had to rub quite a bit of lotion on it and he learned the hard way not to put scented lotion on it. 

Feliciano grumbled when he went to school on Monday and ran his fingers through his hair. He sat down next to Arthur and kissed his cheek, leaning on his shoulder. “My back hurts. I didn’t think I’d end up with that as my first tattoo location” he chuckled and ran his fingers through his hair again. “Lovi doesn’t know. Can we go out again today? I have a headache and I’m too tired to go to class. I fought with nonno this weekend. Again” He sighed 

Arthur looked up and smiled at Feliciano. “Of course Feli. We’ll go out and fix everything again. Just let’s get you home before your brother gets home so that he doesn’t rip off my dick” He laughed and ruffled the Italian’s hair. “I love you, Feli. I’m going to take care of you I promise” he put an arm around him and lifted him up. He brought him out to his car, an Aston Martin, and set him on the front seat before climbing in the driver seat. He kissed Feliciano on the lips before taking off down the street. 

~

Lovino sighed and ran his fingers through his hair as he got dressed in the morning. He just hoped Feliciano made a better choice. On his way to school, his mind had gone nearly blank and he forgot that he didn’t have to go to the other classes yet. He walked into his English class and then blinked when he realised no one else was there. His thoughts cleared and he remembered. He only had to be here for Antonio’s class. Antonio never seemed to mind if he went in early, though. He stepped into the classroom and went to sit in the back, though didn’t even make it that far before Antonio was asking him to speak. 

Lovino let out a heavy sigh and nodded. He set his stuff down and went back up towards the desk. “Is everything okay?” he asked.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> TW: Past Child Abuse

_‘Dear diary,_   
_This weekend was interesting for sure. I’m not sure how Lovi is gonna feel after his grandfather being missing for that long. I’m actually a little worried that he’s going to be upset that his grandfather is gone. Maybe I made a mistake this time. Maybe I overreacted. Oh well, just somebody else that is going to make everything easier on my love. Poor Lovino, my little Lovi. Everyone is so mean._

_I’m so proud of him. Such a good brother. He doesn’t always know what’s best, and he doesn’t always do what’s right for Feli, but he tries and I love that about him. He’s so beautiful. If he were perfect I think my heart might stop. My Lovi. School starts soon, and I hope Lovi comes in early again._

Antonio hears the door open and looks up, smiling softly. He stands up when he sees it’s Lovino. “Hey! Can I talk to you?” He asks, smile brightening. He watches Lovino set his stuff down then come back. “I wanted to know if…” He pauses when he sees the bruises on Lovino’s face. “Are you okay? Oh my god.” His stomach lurches slightly. He tries to catch his breath, but he can’t seem to breath in. 

Antonio stumbles backwards, hitting the wall and sliding down it. He feels like he’s going to vomit. A hand on his shoulder makes him scream and cover his head with his hands. “I’m sorry, please don’t hit me!” He begs the person he’s seeing behind his eyelids. His breathing speeds up. “Papi stop…” He whimpers, screaming again when someone grabs hands to try to pull them off of his head. 

Lovino’s panicked talking doesn’t get through to him. He curls up in a ball on the ground, sobbing and begging quietly about not wanting to be hurt. He closes his eyes tightly and rocks, breathing increasing until he’s hyperventilating. His chest hurts but he can’t seem to get himself to calm down. Everything goes black after a few more seconds. 

Lovino stands there stunned, unsure what to do. His handsome, kind Spanish teacher just begged his father not to hurt him then passed out. He looks up and sees two other men, one he knows and one he recognizes from a few unhappy meetings. “I need help, Mr. Fernandez just passed out and I don’t know what happened.” He says as loudly as his closing throat allows. Gilbert smiles kindly at him and nods, moving into the room completely and picking up Antonio. 

“What was he saying?” Francis asks worriedly. He grabs his journal off the desk and closes it, putting it into the drawer and locking it. “Antonio has a lot of problems from his past. Your bruising probably triggered it. It’s okay, Lovino, we can take care of him. When he wakes up he’s going to want to see you. He wants to talk to you a lot.” He leads Lovino to Antonio’s office and grabs the first aid kit. “He has bruise cream.” He pulls out the little tube. 

Lovino explains shakily to Francis what was said, looking at Antonio laying on the couch. He stands still and lets Francis apply the bruise cream. “I don’t understand what’s going on…” He whispers. Francis smiles kindly but doesn’t elaborate. 

“If he wants to tell you, you have to ask him about it. It’s not something I can just talk to you about. Wouldn’t that not be very okay? He should wake up soon, and he’d love it if you were here. You have no idea how much he likes you.” Francis sighs softly. “So please, would you be here when he wakes up? I have a class and so does Gilbert.” Francis’ smile returns when Lovino nods and he turns to Gilbert. “I have to go now. Don’t be late to your class.” 

Gilbert leaves soon after Francis does. Lovino sits on the couch, pulling Antonio’s head into his lap. He opens the book he’s supposed to be reading for one of his classes. Antonio stirs by the time he finishes the chapter he’s on. He looks down at the Spaniard. “You said you wanted to talk to me?” He asks, deciding not to ask about what happened. They don’t know each other well enough. 

Antonio sits up slowly, rubbing the back of his head. He yawns. “Wow, I’m sorry I just took a siesta like that!” He turns his body and sits properly on the couch. “Yeah, I wanted to… Um… Ask you out on a date…” He blushes darkly. He looks over at Lovino finally and gives him a charming smile. Lovino pauses, wondering if that’s the best of ideas at the moment. For one, Antonio is his teacher, and for two, he has so much to worry about what with Feliciano and Arthur…. And his dumb fuck of a grandfather… But maybe that’s exactly the reason he should go out with Antonio. 

It would give him the chance to relax and distance himself from everything. With that thought in mind, he’s saying yes before he can really think about it. Antonio looks so overjoyed, he can’t bring himself to take it back. Antonio smiles brightly. “Okay… I’ll pick you up from your house? Not tonight, maybe this weekend? I heard the carnival is in town, we should go there for our date.” He hums softly then looks at his watch. “Mierda. Lovi I’d love to keep talking to you but I have to start class. You can stay in here and do homework again?” He stands up and runs a hand through his hair. “Or you can go sit with the class again. We can talk more when I’m tutoring you later.” He dashes to the main room, starting to talk to the class. 

He can’t help but smile at Lovino when he walks out and to his spot. A few people cast suspicious glances between them but don’t say anything. Antonio doesn’t notice, still lost in happiness over Lovino agreeing to date him. He can’t help the bright smile on his lips as he does his lecture. He even grades their assignment loosely, once again only marking the accents and not giving them a lowered grade for it. 

He finishes his diary entry between classes, then locks it into his desk again. He is still thrilled by the time the personal tutoring comes around. He helps Lovino to his best effort, though sometimes he can’t really. English isn’t his first language either, and he struggles with explaining it most times. He smiles at Lovino. 

Lovino gets up the courage finally by the time that he’s leaving. He turns to Antonio and looks up at him. “What were you panicking about so much?” He asks. “I mean, of course you don’t have to tell me. But that was a lot of panicking. Did I do something?” He feels small asking that, shamed. How could he ever hurt someone this cute and happy? Lovino looks at his feet and takes a deep breath. 

Antonio shakes his head. “You could never do anything to upset me! It’s just your bruises… They reminded me of a bad time in my past. My father and mother were very abusive. Well… My mom didn’t hit me. She locked me in closets and the crawl space when I was bad. My papi hit me a lot.” Antonio rubs the back of his neck, frown on his lips. “So your bruises made me think of that. Where did you get those anyway?” He asks softly. 

“My nonno. I fought with him last night. It’s not that big of a deal. He’s been an asshole since mama died, but I’m hoping that he calms down a bit. Feli too. Well he hasn’t been an asshole he’s been reckless.” He pauses before hugging Antonio. “I’m so sorry that happened to you. I hope you’ve been better since then… I’ll see you tomorrow…” He walks out. 

Antonio watches him go, spirits down again. He bites his lip harshly then slumps down onto the ground in his office, starting to cry.


	8. Chapter 8

Lovino held his books close to his chest as he walked out to his car. It was strange now that he thought about it. He was going to go out with his teacher. But honestly Antonio was the closest thing to stable he had right now. Maybe it would be good for him. He ran his fingers through his hair as he prepared himself to drive home. Hopefully Feliciano was home on time and Arthur wasn’t there. 

Feliciano was not in fact at home when the older Italian got there. He rolled his eyes and went up to take a shower. He’d just wait for Feliciano to get home then. It wouldn’t be that big of a deal. He should be home soon. He grumbled and flopped onto the couch, turning on the TV. 

Hours later and after a microwave heated meal, Lovino was furious. He was practically falling asleep on the couch when the door swung open and his head shot. He looked over to see Feliciano creeping towards the stairs and he growled. “You’re a little late, don’t you think?” he asked, looking at the clock under the TV. “It’s 3 am Feliciano” he growled. 

“Is it? I have been here the whole time Fratello” Feliciano was obviously drunk. He swung one arm up and it was then that Lovino realised what he saw there on the younger Italian’s arm. 

“Is that a fucking tattoo?” Lovino marched right over to Feliciano and gripped at his arm, watching the Italian wince then letting go. “it’s a real tattoo.” He ran his fingers through his hair. “You know what? It is too early in the morning. Get your ass upstairs, into bed, and I better find you asleep when I get in there. We’ll discuss this when you get up” He sighed heavily. 

Time to write an email to Antonio telling him he’ll be absent tomorrow, dealing with his sick brother since he was certainly going to be holding Feliciano home from school. He’d have to have a serious talk with Arthur’s father when he got home. He certainly would be keeping him away from Arthur for a while. 

In the morning he received a worried email in return from Antonio but he assured him that everything was okay. Feliciano was just with some stupid boy and he was sick now and Lovino just had to be here. He apologised in the email he returned before heading up to Feliciano’s room. He sat next to his bed, watching the Italian shift awake. “A tattoo? You got drunk again too I can smell it. You’re staying home today. I don’t want you to so much as look at Arthur. I excused your absences but only this once. If you so much as end up tardy again you are on your own do you understand?” He hissed. He grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest. “I know I’m not a very good person to be taking care of you Feli. I know there are better ways to handle our situation. But I can’t do anything else right now. I need you to try to understand that I am here and I am trying to take care of you. But I can’t protect you always and you need to be able to recognize when something is bad for you” 

Feliciano looked away from Lovino. He sat up and looked down at his lap. “I’m sorry fratello. It’s not you...it’s not your fault. I...I just...I don’t know what comes over me. I want to go out and forget everything. I know that nothing I can do will bring them back, nothing I can do will make this any easier on us and what I am doing is only making things a million times harder on us. I’m sorry fratello” Tears dripped off of Feliciano’s cheeks and he quickly reached up to wipe his eyes. “I’m sorry” He shifted and pulled his knees up to his chest.

Lovino sighed softly and sat down next to Feliciano on the bed. He pulled his brother into a gentle hug, rubbing his side and pushing Feliciano’s head onto his shoulder, holding him close. “It’s okay Feli. I know it’s hard. It doesn’t help that nonno acted the way he did. I know you love him. I love him too. I just...I don’t want him to come back. I think I can take better care of you than he can. Imagine what he’d say if he found out you came home with a tattoo.” he rolled his eyes and ruffled Feliciano’s hair, trying to lighten the situation. 

It seemed to work as Feliciano laughed softly and nuzzled into Lovino. He rubbed his eyes. “My head hurts really bad, fratello” he whined. “Will you make breakfast so I can take something for it?” He asked, looking up at his brother and smiling weakly. 

Lovino rolled his eyes but smiled and nodded. “Alright Feli.” he slid off the bed and into a standing position, heading to the kitchen and starting to work on the food. He made a rather nice breakfast but also made Feliciano a rather disgusting looking drink. It would be disgusting but he was going to make Feliciano drink it anyways because it would help with the headache. 

Feliciano came down to the kitchen not long after getting dressed. He rubbed his eyes and stretched out a bit. “Arthur’s dad is coming home Sunday. I know you said you wanted to meet him. Arthur is going to ask about it. I’ll stop leaving with him until then, I promise” he whispered. “for real this time” he sat down on the counter next to Lovino. “I really am sorry” 

Lovino shrugged. “Okay. As long as you don’t leave with him I’ll let you hang out with him until then, deal? You have to be home on time or that’s it, understood?” He raised an eyebrow. 

Feliciano nodded. “Okay Fratello, thank you” he slid back down off the counter to hug his brother from behind. “I think we can get better together fratello. We can be a family, just you and me. We don’t need anyone else” he nuzzled into his brother's back and smiled. 

Lovino nodded. “Sure Feliciano. I think we can too” he shrugged and set the table for the Italian. Fortunately, this was the only time this week he had to keep Feliciano out of school for being hung over and Feliciano was always home after school as promised. He asked a friend to come and house sit and take care of Feliciano while he went out. He hadn’t ever really mentioned where he was going to go though. 

They were going to the Carnival, so Lovino didn’t bother getting ridiculously dressed up for the occasion but he did dress semi nicely. He hoped that they would also be getting food because he didn’t want to cook. Also he preferred meals with his dates since that was an important time to observe someone. If he was being honest he didn’t think it would go much farther than tonight. But he was going to give it a chance. He had nothing better to do as long as Feliciano was taken care of so he decided he may as well actually try on this date. He’d get to know Antonio a bit, then see how it went from there. No promises though, of course. 

Lovino sat on the couch to wait, looking down at his phone. He perked up, head turning towards the door when it opened. “Okay Feli, remember that Emma is not here to babysit you, just make sure that you get fed. You have no bed time since there is no school tomorrow but I want you to pick up your room and shower tonight. Okay? I don’t know when I will be back, I doubt this meeting will go too long” he shrugged. “I love you” he kissed his brother’s forehead before moving towards the door. He quickly opened it, stepped out and closed the door behind him. 

“Hey, Antonio. Sorry. I am not really sure how to explain all this to Feliciano yet so he doesn’t know. If this goes well I’ll tell him. But I am not sure yet. He’s having a bit of problems already with relationships and I don’t really know how well my own can go”


	9. Chapter 9

_‘Dear diary,_

_I don’t know how I did it, but I managed to convince Lovino to go on a date with me! Gosh, I just love him so much, he’s so beautiful. I can’t believe that he wants to date me. I thought he’d feel like I’m weird because I’m his professor. We went to the carnival and I think it went pretty well! He wants to keep us a secret from his little brother, but that’s okay with me. I would never try to make my Lovi do anything he didn’t want to. What kind of horrible person would that make me?_

_Lovi was so cute last night. He was a bit afraid to ask me to buy him anything, so whenever he looked like he wanted something, I’d ask then buy it for him. The cutest was when he was eating the caramel apple with sprinkles. He made such a mess and had caramel all over his cheeks. I got a picture, while he whined he said I could keep it._

_I don’t know what will happen next, if he will want to go on another date with me or anything. It’s up to him, I don’t want to pressure him. I’ll wait and see what he has to say about the one we went on last night. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so relaxed. I wouldn’t say he was happy, but he definitely didn’t feel upset like he has the last couple of days. I’m glad I can have that effect on him. It definitely cheered me up._

_I think today I might go get my ears pierced. I think it looks cute on other people and I think it would look cute on me. I’ll ask Gil. He usually knows about that stuff. They have been looking at me weird since the other night, though. Maybe I won’t talk to him about it. Maybe I’ll ask Lovi. I’m sure he’ll have an opinion. He usually has opinions on that sort of thing._

A quiet knock on the door draws Antonio’s attention. He usually doesn’t have students knocking on his office door. “Just give me one moment!” He calls out cheerfully, looking down at his journal. 

_Anything further I have to add will have to wait._

_-Antonio_

He closes the journal and locks it up in his desk, making sure that it’s closed. It would be horrible for him if someone would find it. It would mean certain jail time for him and probable jail time for his best friends. It would make him feel bad to pull Gilbert away from Ludwig, and Francis would have no chance of getting his son back if it were to happen. Antonio is pulled from his thoughts by another knock. 

“Coming!” He opens the door, smiling happily. He sees Feliciano, Lovino’s little brother, and his eyebrow shoots up. “Oh, hello! You look just like Lovino, you know that?” He asks gently. Feliciano pouts slightly, looking at the ground before looking back up at him, determination shining in his eyes. 

“I wanted to ask you if you and Lovino are together. I saw his emails with you and he’s never been this nice to a teacher before. Never and if I asked him, he’d only get defensive. He never tells me anything cause he wants to be my big, strong older brother but I want him to be able to lean on me as much as I lean on him.” He says, rubbing his arm softly. “And I want to protect him as much as I possibly can, while being the age that I am.” Feliciano looks into Antonio’s eyes, and for a moment he feels like he’s being read by that gaze. 

“U-Uh… Your brother didn’t want to tell you, because he didn’t know how you’d react. But we aren’t dating, well not really. It was one date.” Antonio responds. “And I don’t want to make him feel obligated to go on another one, so I was going to wait for him to tell me how he felt about it. I understand, and if he doesn’t want to date me, I will do nothing to harm him. He will go back to being just one of my students, I will do nothing to hurt him or his schooling.” He assures Feliciano. The high schoolers entire body seems to relax at this. 

“Thank you, sir. I’d appreciate if you didn’t tell him I was here, I want to talk to him later.” Feliciano smiles happily, tossing his arms around Antonio. Antonio hesitantly pats him on the back.

“Of course, but you have to talk to him about it tonight, otherwise I’m going to tell him. You’ll want to leave if you want to make it to class on time and leave before he gets here.” Antonio warns, checking his watch. “Lovi has been showing up early recently to get tutoring and help.” He watches Feliciano leave and smiles, shaking his head. Minutes later Lovino enters, and Antonio smiles happily. 

“Hey! How was the rest of your weekend?” He asks gently. “I heard they got subs for your classes, so we need to get your homework for those classes done as soon as we possibly can.” Antonio sits down at Lovino’s desk with him, pulling out a planner. “I bought this for you and we’re going to make a schedule today on what to work on and when. I didn’t just make it because I don’t know when you’re busy or anything like that.” Antonio smiles at Lovino, who looks blown away. 

“It was fine, I met Arthur’s father and we discussed the behaviour of the two. I still don’t quite trust Arthur to be with Feli alone, but I really have little choice. Feli is almost an adult and I trust him to make good decisions. For the most part.” He responds and sighs deeply. “Yeah, they’re starting the classes back up after today, on our old schedule.” He pulls the planner close to him and looks through it, nodding a bit. “Okay. I can probably do tutoring every other day, but I really need to start doing it at home, because I need to be home when Feli is.” 

Lovino goes through the book and marks when he’s working. He sighs deeply. “I can’t do tutoring today, until later, because I have to go to the police station and file a missing person's report for my grandfather. The asshole hasn’t had the decency to call us back and Feliciano is terrified.” Lovino writes his classes and times in the slots available, and writes down on a separate piece of paper the pre-existing homework assignments. He also writes in the planner the due dates for them all. Antonio just nods and watches him.

It’s interesting to him just how easily Lovino can get focused on something and leave the world behind. Lovino’s handwriting is something that amuses Antonio deeply. At first it’s so neat and tidy, but it quickly degrades to something barely readable. He gently takes the planner back and reads over it, filling in some tutoring sessions. “If you can’t make any of these just let me know, I won’t be mad.” He smiles at Lovino, then hands it back. “I only filled in a week, because I know sometimes things can happen that will throw everything off.” He pulls out his own planner and copies what Lovino’s says down, so he can keep track. 

“I got a planner for myself that I will only fill with your stuff, so that I can see it better. If you could see my other two planners… You would feel dead.” He chuckles. One is for school and the other is personal. Lovino’s eyes dim a bit. 

“Am I using up the only personal time you have?” He asks, feeling guilty suddenly, not wanting to cause his teacher to be overworked. “You really don’t have to tutor me, I’m sure I could find someone else to do it. It’s okay, Antonio, really.” He sets a hand on Antonio’s. 

“No no! That’s not what I meant, pardon my phrasing. I just meant that even though I use planners, I’m sloppy about it. I honestly don’t have much going on and I usually grade while you’re working on your homework.” He assures. He hugs Lovino gently then stands up. “Class is starting. You can sit in my office, since this isn’t your period, or you can sit at my desk with me.” He walks off to the front and organizes his papers. The announcement of a pop quiz has everyone groaning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed protective feli. Sorry about the late update, I'm nothing if not good at procrastinating.


	10. Chapter 10

Lovino was exhausted by the time he got home. He had to work on quite a lot of homework and he wasn’t very pleased with how much of it he did have to do. He just really hoped that all these substitutes were nice to him. He didn’t want to have to deal with a bunch of these new people if they weren’t going to be nice. So far Antonio has been pretty good about helping him out with all the homework he has.

He plopped down onto the couch and ran his fingers through his hair, looking up at the ceiling and tried to keep his mind away from school. He was over it, he just had to get through all of this and he could. Antonio thought he could. That was important. Antonio’s opinion was a lot, since he was a teacher. Antonio believed in him and believed that he could get through this. So he just had to believe that Antonio was right.

Lovino looked up and smiled slightly when he saw Feliciano walk in. “You’ve been doing a lot better. We are going to meet with Arthur’s father again to talk about letting you two branch and everything is going to be okay.”  
  
Feliciano sighed. “Yeah um. About that” he paused and ran his fingers through his hair. “Well Arthur’s dad doesn’t know he’s gay. He thought that talk before was just about us being friends. He thought you didn’t want us to be friends anymore.” he held his arm tightly. “um. Hayden, Arthur’s brother, he got… Kicked out. Because he was gay. And his sister, who was born a boy, well she can’t come out to him because she’s too young to go anywhere. I really don’t want anything like that to happen to Arthur.” He sighed. “He and I talked about it.”

Lovino tilted his head. “Wait pause right there. He kicked Arthur’s brother out? And Arthur’s sister…Reagan? She hasn’t come out to him? That explains a lot actually. Hold on Where is Hayden staying?”

“Fratello. Please I need you to listen to me. Arthur and I are going to break up. And we...aren’t going to hang out anymore. For his safety. Arthur is going to college and I don’t know if I want to go to the same one as him. So our senior year, which doesn’t have very much left of it, is all we might have together. We have both talked about how it isn’t going to help us anyway.” Feliciano’s voice trembled as he spoke. Neither of them really wanted this. But they wanted Arthur to be able to stay at home as long as he needed and...well that meant no more Feliciano.

Lovino tensed up and shook his head. “that’s ridiculous Feliciano. You shouldn’t have to change yourself to please his father. I never wanted you to stop being his friend. I just didn’t want you making bad choices.” He sighed heavily and ran his fingers through his hair. “Okay. We’ll figure this out I promise. Do you know what college he is going to? Maybe you could go to a college near there? You shouldn’t give up this easily”

Feliciano shook his head and trembled, hugging Lovino tightly and crying into his chest. “He’s going to school in England.” He whispered. “I can’t go to England, fratello I can’t do that. He is going to stay with his uncle in England. His uncle who is a preacher and probably even more against everything that Arthur’s father is. There is no way it would work there”  
Lovino sighed heavily and ran his fingers through Feliciano’s hair. “Okay. Okay we will figure this out. I’m not going to have gone through all this shit to stop you from doing his drugs without dropping him from your life for you to drop him on your own the next week.”

Feliciano sniffled. “I don’t see what you plan to do but by all means try” He sighed, wiping his eyes and running his fingers through his hair. “But I don’t want to get my hopes up. it’s really unlikely that I will be able to stay with him” He sighed and sniffled. “I am going to go up and do my homework. I love you fratello” he whispered. He went up to his bedroom and closed the door. He ran his fingers through his hair and started to work on his homework. If he was being honest there were a million and one different things he would prefer to be doing over his homework yet here he was. He knew this was the best way to prove to Lovino he was trying to get better.

Lovino ran his fingers through his hair and sat down at his computer. He opened up his email and looked through the list before finding Antonio’s and clicking compose.

* * *

 

 _Antonio_  
  
_I need your help with something. I really don’t know what to do. Feliciano just came home and told me that despite all of that work I did with him so that he could still be with Arthur, they can’t be together because Arthur’s brother got kicked out when he came out to their father._  
  
 _Feliciano and I are struggling so much with being on our own and yet he continues to put himself through all of these struggles. I really don’t know what to do to help him._  
  
 _Anyway this wasn’t just about that. I wanted to let you know that I could really use another night of relaxation. That date was really fun and a great way to get my mind off of some things. When I come in tomorrow to meet with you about my homework I would really appreciate if we could discuss maybe doing something again sometime. Just to keep my thoughts clear for a bit._  
  
 _Thanks_  
  
 _Lovino._

* * *

 

 _Lovino once_ again ran his fingers through his hair before standing up and going into the kitchen. He opened up the fridge and started to shift through what items might be there for him to cook dinner. “Feli! What do you want for dinner?” he called.

It took a moment before he heard the younger Italian respond. “I don’t!”

Lovino sighed heavily and closed the fridge. Feliciano really was devastated about this. What was he supposed to do? It wasn’t like he could afford to bring Arthur in here and he knew that it wouldn’t help keep them off of that stuff if they lived here. He didn’t have time to monitor it. He just wished there was some way he could take care of the kids without them having to lose each other.

He decided that it didn’t matter too much right now. He had to deal with other things first and maybe if Antonio responded to the email or brought it up during their meeting they could figure it out together. But as of right now Lovino just had to focus on making sure Feliciano didn’t hurt himself or turn back to doing all those horrible things. Now he didn’t really want to eat either. As long as Feliciano had eaten something today he didn’t mind to much if he decided not to eat. He understood being upset and he wasn’t going to pressure him. He grabbed a snack to make sure he had something before going up to his room.

They would figure it out tomorrow. Tomorrow will be better than today, he decided. Hoped more like. He let his eyes slide shut, falling asleep after he finally managed to relax.


End file.
